Tuesday, November 30, 2010

(Can you actually like a girl you haven't met by just reading her blog? Ermmm, oh yes... you can. I did. I hope I finally bump into Sarah tomorrow. At the gym. Or at Fajaria. Or at the local supermarket. Anywhere will do).

Monday, November 29, 2010

I'm not feeling very creative now, hence I titled my post in accordance to the song that I listened to like there's no other music in this world (at the moment); Fireworks by Katy Perry. I'll just be honest here; I am actually a pop fan (a friend one said that I am a 'Pop Guy'... whatever he means, I don't want to know) and I think that the genre pop this year should be more like Katy. She brings life to her music, her performances are always energetic and mainstream, and her beats blend well with people of all sorts of backgrounds (even of those who don't speak English and can't understand a thing on what she sings about).

I landed in Miri about 2 hours ago, after spending a 2-days weekend getaway at KK with Hilmi and Jiha. The trip was good, we managed to visit the places that I did not visit the last time I was in KK and of course, i was accompanied by sweat on every part of my sticky body on the day we had the city tour.

In short; an observant traveller must think that KK tries to hard to be on the upbeat (and at times I think so too), but I think I will cut KK some slacks because needless to say, the leaps it had was all in the name of tourism. I love the tourism industry and only because of that, I will give KK a pat on the back.

I blog-hopped few minutes ago and came across an interesting blog (actually the blog is more of a 'descriptive photo blog'... I think that's really smart). Anyway, I came across a photo of Queenstown in the blog and suddenly a gush of old memories streamed down my mind on how I was once helplessly in love with Queenstown. I can't describe it all here, as that would take another 3 hours of writings... but i am glad i came across it and managed to dig out a deserted corner of my mind that once hold many very fond memories (oh by the way, I did my bungee jumping and skydive in Queenstown too).

I miss Sydney. I really don't know how I have managed to live happy for almost 2 years without her now. I guess time does heal all pain. Did you know that I was extremely sad and broken in the inside beyond words could ever explained on the day I left Sydney for good? It felt like a break up. As if I just ended a really meaningful and irreplaceable relationship with something virtually alive. It really did. Oh well...

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

"Muhammad! You're always late!" - those 4 words spoken by a friend were probably the most piercing reality check I've had this year. And it cuts deep. Of course, my stupefied face knocked some guilt into him and then he spent the next 15 seconds explaining to me on how the whole statement was supposed to be a joke, JUST a joke.

but i know that ain't any joke. it's true, i AM always late. i am NEVER early (of course), but the sickening part is that I am always NEVER punctual even! if you don't suffer any crisis in time management, you'll probably yawn at this very paragraph, but only late-comers understand on how desperately they don't want to be the... well, 'late-comers'. ('late-cummers' are undeniably a really good thing, but that's another story).

if i am supposed to be somewhere by 8pm, i should actually put aside a certain amount of time prior to that, sufficient enough for me to get dressed or have a shower, and lock the house and to have some safe moderate-speed driving to my destination.

but i am always trying to squeeze in other things. i'll still go to the gym at 6pm for one hour, and then reach home exhausted and have a mini break for about 20 minutes, and then surf the net for a while and then puff a bit (just to get energized, really... how lame am i?)... doing so many other things thinking that i'll still be able to catch that 8pm agenda. but once all those 'errands' are over, the clock cruelly shows me of the remaining 15 minutes left before 8, and BAM!, i arrived at where i was supposed to be 30 minutes later. again, i was the 'late-comer'. it sucks, and the suckier part is, i never seem to learn from my lesson. this keeps happening and happening and it's driving me nuts.

on an unrelated note, i hate to work in the office with people who likes to 'act important'. seriously, get a life (and colour your white hair, you're only 25! for that matter).

Thursday, November 18, 2010

Miri generally has two things in excess; rainbows and stray dogs. it's true, i have probably seen more rainbows and stray dogs in Miri than I had in anywhere else I've lived. i like one of them and hate the other. guess which is which?

i'm thinking you're guessing that i like the rainbows and hate those stray dogs (and why wouldn't you, since we're all trapped in the Gen-Y feverish and ambitious demand of thinking that we do have a lot to smile about in this world... ok please ignore me as i'm not making any much sense here)... and that guess is WRONG.

i like the stray dogs and i hate the rainbows. again, i'm guessing that you don't want to know why, but i'll explain anyway. stray dogs make me feel that i indeed, have a lot to be thankful for. when i see them, i instantly thank Allah for my home, my clothes, the food that i've had and of course, for the fact that i am not wondering and straying around aimlessly.

rainbows on the other hand are pretentious. it's almost as if they start from one end and swooped like a superman to another far end of the sky, telling everyone beneath that life's a beauty, all worldly conflicts can be resolved if you understand love and always put your neighbour first (even when you're living on minimal needs and they're the one gloatingly driving a 7-series around town). rainbows are pretentious, they're the source of all the ridiculously happy myths that all kids craved for and they're not that all very pretty.

anyway, i can't help but noticed that my younger sister is now happily 'married' to a guy called Naim Zolk (she's happily married in facebook, of course). true enough, i don't know him, although he did friend requested me in facebook and i haven't had the time to approve yet (although i do spend an averagely 2 full hours on facebook per day), but he slashed me as to be the kind of guy that i wouldn't like should we happen to be the same age. and please tell me you understand what i have just said.

since now i'm always traveling back and forth between KL and Miri, i can confidently said that i have grew accustomed to how all these checking in procedures work. i don't usually 'rush' to the airport anymore (unlike my father, who'd prefer to be at the airport 3 days before the flight departure time, just because we need to be 'on the safe side'). usually checking in 20 minutes before departure work for me, provided that i pretended to be on an intensely panting mode and behaved as if my lungs are about to fail me (from the effect of running like a crazy person) and of course, a handy excuse will always do you a favour.

"Sorry, my tyre gave me problem... of all the days it could, unfortunately today was chosen "

"Sorry, I had the worse diarrhea today... I don't usually check in this late, sorry Miss!"

"Sorry, I mis-read the ticket... i accidentally read a 1745 departure time as 7.45 pm!"

the third one's a genius, and will always work for you.

in conclusion, i have to check in on time, i can't stop my younger sister from growing up, and i actually prefer the rainbows to stray dogs. good night!

Friday, November 05, 2010

a thought stroked my absent mind on how i've been blogging less and less these days. and this is not good, considering i have once decided to be a smooth writer all through the remaining years i have in life. less blogging means i am now practicing less to write, which means the day will soon arrive when i will find it hard to translate my inner world into writings. and that is also, NOT GOOD.

and one more thing, i realized that my recent posts had not been those of 'happy ones', and i hate to leave my readers thinking that life has been cruel to me, and i was, and still at the brink of falling apart.

yes, i have my ups and downs, but the truth is i am generally happy now, and alhamdulillah, i thank Allah for that.

i used up all my remaining annual leave and flew to europe in october, to be with my family for my sister's graduation. i was sort of trying to travel on a tight budget, but it's always a good thing when you go somewhere with your parents because their wallets became partially yours and on top of that you still have your wallet solely for you; for the purpose of spending money purchasing things that will further clutter your room, gather more dusts and stuff that you 'don't quite need'. and trust me, i journeyed my life attempting to be excellent in that area :)

anyways, i visited london, stockholm and paris. in short, london strikes me as to be a very successful city, stockholm is probably the most liberal capital in the world and paris is downright beautiful and i envied those people who gave their other halves the kiss of love at the top of eiffel tower (yes, that tower).

london is definitely a megalopolis of people, ideas and energy; it is truly multicultural and i secretly prayed to Allah all the time while I was there to be given the chance to live in that vibrant city. i just knew i had to live there, as being alive for 70-80 years and not spending a few good years in london will make me feel as if i haven't experienced enough (and that's why i envied my sister). london is noisy, full of bustling easily recognized taxis and red buses, every corner of the city seems to have a picture-postcard shot and every countries in the world seemed to have make a mark there. i believe that every 'city person' yearns to be somewhere that resembles london. this is not an overstatement, as i once heard somewhere that 'those who are tired of london, are actually tired of... life'. sigh.

stockholm is calm, serenely beautiful and is inhabited by truckloads of well-educated and open-minded citizens. like london, the city can be quite dirty towards the later parts of the day, but by early morning, all dirts and rubbishes has been taken care of, and stockholm is then again awakened as the capital of the scandinavians. unlike londoners, sydney-siders, parisians and new yorkers, stockholmers don't quite make a bragging point to the world on how proud they are of their capital, although i can feel that deep inside them they would rather be there than anywhere else. and why shouldn't they? gamla stan and djurgaden are probably two of the most beautiful and worth visiting places in the world. and particularly tonight, i miss stockholm. thank you Allah for giving me the chance to experience what stockholm has to offer.

the third city i visited was paris. and instantly i understood on why they called it the 'city of lights', and i felt a churn in my stomach for finally setting foot in the capital that attracts the highest number of visitors in the world (45 million tourists awed themselves first hand in paris, last year alone). i don't think paris is quite as successful as london, but the rivalry is there, and it's definitely a race worth noting. buildings are all well preserved, la defence (the new and modern paris) reflected itself very well against the backdrop of old paris (where eiffel, arc de triomphe and the louvre are located at). parisians are proud of their city and i can tell that they enjoy the spotlight the world freely bestow them with. for a split second i thought that i should live in paris too, and absorb all the beauty of its people and their artistic sense (and of course, to smoothen my french). but by that time i sorta knew that i have been asking probably a bit too much from Allah, hehehe.

i love all three cities, but probably i prefer paris a tiny bit more than the other two. remember that, just a tiny bit more.

my list of european cities i wish to visit next? well, i'd be lying if i said i don't want to visit them all, but for the sake of goal-setting, i will list down 10 okay? and they are; Oslo, Munich, Rome, Madrid, Barcelona, Amsterdam, Venice, Budapest, Lisbon and Athens. (phew, that took quite some time to choose).

and don't worry Sydney, i still love you. you are so far, the biggest love of my life and i don't know what i'd do without you. i'm just having an after-party flings with all these european cities, but at the end of the day, i'd still choose to marry you. :) :) :) (and i just gave you three smiles).

Here I Come!

A real human trapped in between conservative values and episodes of modern fiction. Motivated by the life statement that i believed in, but not so much of the future. A man that expresses way too much, only to discover later it is not necessarily for the good. Have my own way in being funny, but not so much of a laughing addict. Family and close friends shed the light of my comfort zone, and without them i can't function well. But appreciates those moments when i had to step in the courage zone too. A lot of things build me, a lot of things make me stronger. Other than that, everything's casual, nothing to shout about.